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MONDAY FARM BILL CONFERENCE?: House members on the farm bill conference committee are being warned by leadership that they may have to come back to D.C. on Sunday to get briefed for a possible official meeting on Monday, reveals a memo obtained by Pro’s Bill Tomson last night. But none of the principal negotiators’ offices would confirm the possibility of a Monday meeting, and the memo says nothing about what might happen at the meeting, leaving open the prospect of a vote on several contentious issues.

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NEW REPORT DETAILS IMPACT OF SNAP DEAL: The news of a possible conferee meeting on Monday is just another indication that a final farm bill is close. There’s also David Rogers’ report last night that House and Senate agriculture staff are hopeful of filing the bill prior to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address next Tuesday night.

Yes, there are a few outstanding issues as House and Senate negotiators try to wrap up their work next week. But a $9 billion cut to food stamps has been agreed to as a necessary compromise, eliminating a way beneficiaries qualify for the program by being linked to heating assistance.

Wait a minute. Not so fast.

The Food Bank for New York City, a hunger relief organization, is making a last-minute plea to preserve the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program as is, delivering a report this week that shows how hundreds of thousands of people from the most fragile part of society would be devastated. Read David Rogers’ latest on the negotiations here: http://politi.co/1eGX9Dc . And catch Pro’s Tomson full story on the Food Bank’s report here: http://politico.pro/1d0tQaC

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: On the subject of the State of the Union address, Dale Moore, executive director of public policy for the American Farm Bureau Federation, had a simple wish for the president: Address restoring common sense to the federal budget process. Moore wins the quote of the week honor once again this week for this: “The current tumble-down scheme of bouncing down the rapids, free-falling over the fiscal cliffs and landing on increasingly thinner sequestration pillows is not a strategy for success.”

OBAMA ENLISTS SUBWAY ON OBESITY FIGHT: First lady Michelle Obama praised Subway at an event Thursday for doubling down on its already healthy kids meals and for a new $41 million marketing campaign that will launch Feb. 1, using ads and social media to urge kids to eat more produce over the next three years. Pro’s Helena Bottemiller Evich has the full story from the event: http://politico.pro/KPk3hu

MORE FROM FLOTUS EVENT: Following the event, Bottemiller Evich sat down for a roundtable discussion with Sam Kass, Olympians Michael Phelps and Nastia Liukin, New York Giants star Justin Tuck, Jared Fogle, the Subway customer made famous for his weight loss and Larry Soler, president of the Partnership for a Healthier America. The athletes emphasized the importance of healthy eating — what you put in your body is what you get out. “You never want to feel sluggish on a play,” Tuck said. “Guess what? I'm a Ferrari. I'm not going to put 87 in my body. I’m going to put 93 — high octane.” MA also learned a fun fact during the discussion: Phelps' mom is a food science teacher.

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GROUPS URGE USE OF TAX POLICY TO CURB OBESITY: More than 20 groups, led by the Campaign to End Obesity Action Fund, have sent a letter to the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate tax-writing committees asking them to use tax policy to help curb obesity rates. The groups, which include NAACP, American Council on Exercise, National Association of County and City Health Officials and National Hispanic Medical Association, do not name specific foods that could be taxed. But, in general, they urged the lawmakers to make healthy lifestyles more accessible in communities where they currently are not.

“Traditionally, the tax code has been used to incent social and economic outcomes. If one of the single greatest expenses in the U.S. health care budget is the rising cost of obesity, we should consider thoughtful measures that will help the nation address this epidemic and reduce the associated costs to taxpayers,” said Stephanie Silverman, co-founder of the Campaign to End Obesity Action Fund. See the full letter here: http://bit.ly/1dSOXlc

A section included in the explanatory statement “strongly recommends” USDA delay enforcement of its recently updated COOL— which went into effect in November and requires meat cuts to be labeled with the countries where the livestock was born — until the World Trade Organization has made its decision on complaints of unfair trade barriers from Mexico and Canada.

“If your department does not enforce COOL, U.S. ranchers will not be able to differentiate their products with a U.S. label and consumers will not have the information they need at the point of purchase,” DeLauro warns in her letter. “Accurate information is essential in a competitive, free market and COOL provides consumers with essential information about the origin of their food. See the full letter here: http://1.usa.gov/1dzc9iy

FDA CONTINUES TO INVESTIGATE CARAMEL COLORING: The FDA said it has been investigating the safety of caramel colors used in sodas, beer and baked goods for years, but it doesn’t have any reason yet to believe they pose a health risk.

The agency confirmed the investigation, following a study published by Consumer Reports Thursday that raised potential cancer concerns about the common additive.

“The FDA has studied the use of caramel as a flavor and as a color additive in foods for decades,” FDA said in a statement to POLITICO. To ensure that the use of caramel colors in food continues to be safe, the FDA is currently testing a variety of foods, including sodas, for 4-methylimidazole…These efforts will inform the FDA's safety analysis, and will help the agency determine what, if any, regulatory action needs to be taken. Currently, the FDA has no reason to believe that 4-MEI, at the levels expected in food from the use of caramel colors, poses a health risk to consumers.”

-- AMERICAN BEVERAGE ASSOCIATION RESPONDS: The American Beverage Association assured consumers that beverages containing 4-MEI are safe to drink. “Contrary to the conclusions of Consumer Reports, FDA has noted there is no reason at all for any health concerns, a position supported by regulatory agencies around the world. In fact, FDA has noted that a consumer ‘would have to drink more than a thousand cans of soda in a day to match the doses administered in studies that showed links to cancer in rodents.’ However, the companies that make caramel coloring for our members' soft drinks are now producing it to contain less 4-MEI, and nationwide use of this new caramel coloring is underway.”

ON TAP THIS A.M.: The U.S. Conference of Mayors is scheduled to talk food policy for an hour this morning. According to the three-day meeting agenda, Audrey Rowe, administrator of USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service, will provide an update on the department’s programs and Keith Stern from the office of Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) will provide an update on the farm bill. Mayor of Lima David Berger will give a presentation titled “Mobile Grocery Market: Changing the Food Desert Landscape and Fighting Childhood Obesity in Lima,” and the Mayor of Baton Rouge Melvin Holden will discuss making healthy food more accessible. See the agenda here: http://bit.ly/1ebzIyA

MA’s INSTANT OATS:

- The National Grain and Feed Association and North American Export Grain Association have asked Syngenta to hold back on two genetically modified corn varieties until China has granted regulatory approval, Reuters reports. http://reut.rs/M0mzlH

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